Is this fair? School marks/SN child

[SchoolMarks]

DS(11) ASD, dyspraxia, learning delay ~ 2 years, adhd tendencies. School complained recently as they sent work home as he hadn't completed it in class and we corrected it. He had to answer questions about a hobby with a view to making a poster and presenting it to the class. We made DS complete the questions, corrected spelling and told him in his next lesson he should copy the corrected answers into his book. Then he finished the poster at home, as he has problems writing, I left him use the computer. He typed everything in and then I showed him how to add a couple of photos. The teacher has taken issue because it is unfair his work was corrected before the poster was made, and the other kids' work wasn't corrected. Clearly, If he had been left to do the work in school, it would never have been completed and he would get 0.

She has suggested that for the subjects where he doesn't have an special learning plan (like he has for maths, because of dyscalculia) that any work he completes by himself he will get a sticker.

For any work he completes with help he will get a stamp. This will include help from her, his 1:1 TA; I suppose this also means an extra explanation or if she has to remind him to get on with it. Also presumably any homework because even if he doesn't complete it alone I doubt she would believe it ( works better at home).

So his end of year marks will be calculated from test marks, plus the stickered and stamped work, but heavily weighted in favour of the stickered work which he has not completed entirely alone.

By doing it this way, DS will not be at an advantage [hollow laugh] over the children who have no support at home and his marks will reflect an adequate picture of his school attainment.

YABU this is fair
YANBU this is not fair and you can help speechless me draft a reply.

They should have enough unaided work or work where they can see level of support at school to make an assessment. Homework with support provided shouldn't be an issue. Throughout lockdown, I have had children working with their parents doing excellent work, probably much better than they are capable of alone. I have seen this as positive. They will have learnt through the process of working together; they will feel proud of their work. I congratulate and praise these kids and thank their parents for helping them I don't use the work as part of the assessment of their independent unaided work.

What year is this? In a state school?

Yr 5 state.

His marks DO have to give an accurate reflection of his own abilities, whatever that might be. Supported work, whilst it is helpful to provide modelled answers and teaching points, won't reflect what he can do independently and this is what he ( and you) need to continue what will be a battle to get the support he needs.

I have had children working with their parents doing excellent work, probably much better than they are capable of alone.
And in our case, the teachers don’t believe what DS can do alone. I would explain the task and let him get on with it. He works so much better at home than at school. Plus there was no screen time until all school work was done. No walking out the classroom after handing in an empty sheet!

What support is he entitled to OP? His diagnoses should have been given with specific guidance as part of his education plan. This support should be offered for assessments - it’s what creates a level playing field for students with SEN. e.g. dyslexic students are entitled to extra time, a reader/scribe, computer software etc.
Whatever he is entitled to for these assessments (or would be if they were doing them) he should be given for all other school work and have it counted as ‘his own work’.
I hope that makes sense...

Format/ presentation of work
Tasks read aloud, if TA is present
Extra time + breaks
Quiet place to work, separate room if TA present
Reduced amount of exercises e.g. if questions 1-5 of increasing difficulty, he would only need to answer two including the most difficult kind of thing.

It is very easy for parents to underestimate the support they are giving to children at home. It could be true that he works better at home than at school, but if they can’t see him do it independently at school then they can’t just take your word for it that he is doing it completely independently at home. I can’t see anything wrong with what they’re doing tbh.

No walking out the classroom after handing in an empty sheet!

What do you mean by this? Do you expect that teachers should be late for the next thing they need to do or miss even more of their lunch break because your son hasn’t completed his work in the time given? If he can do it properly and successfully at home, then he is capable of at least making an effort at school and not handing in a completely blank sheet.

I guess the question is why is he unable to complete the work at home but not at school? Is it the way it is explained? Is it that there are too many distractions in the classroom? Is it that he has to write answers when it would be easier for him to use a laptop?
That's what I'd want to get to the bottom of and try to resolve x

*able

Does he have an EHCP? Sounds like the teacher is trying to roll back the support in the EHCP

You child has that support because he needs it to be able to operate on an equivalent level to his peers. If he has an EHCP he has a legal right to that. The teacher should not be undermining that.

On the other hand support given should be clearly noted. Eg reader and scribe, prompting, scribed etc

The mark should still be comparable to other children without support. They dont have the support because they dont need it.

I'd be fuming

why is he unable to complete the work at home but not at school?

Its widely known that a lot of kids with SEN often do better at home than school. At school theres at least 29 other distractions, before you even count the visual distractions on the walls. At home the learning can be designed around the kid

But surely if they included the work he had had help with, that would artificially increase his score which means he is at risk of losing some of the support in the next ECHP review?

I don’t understand the accumulation of marks towards an end of year mark. We don’t (in my experience) mark kids like that in state schools. We would annotate books (ie the stamps and stickers) to remind us about the level of support - so that when determining the child’s attainment we have accurate evidence.

The children may be aware of where they are, and what they need to do next, but they wouldn’t have a number of points or credits for pieces of work, in the same way you do at secondary/university for formal submitted assignments.

If the school feel your child needs to be more independent, surely the sticker is simply to reward them for this and remind the teacher they did it independently.

I think making a child with dyspraxia do a piece of work at home is unfair, if they couldn’t do it due to this. It would however be fair if the child had simply refused to do it, and the teacher thought it was behaviour, rather than an inability to complete the task independently.

In my opinion, if you send a piece of work home to be completed you can’t use it for assessment anyway, it’s more to make a point that work has to be finished. So on that note, they were being a bit silly.

No walking out the classroom after handing in an empty sheet!

What do you mean by this?

I meant that DS can't get away with handing in an empty sheet with me, whereas if he does at school there aren't any consequences. We've agreed that it gets sent home for him to finish as homework and he has since then started op to do a bit more in class.

So any work completed under his EHCP conditions should be classed as work he has completed independently.
Anything he require more support with should be marked, but obviously will be weighted lower than the above, that is fair.
However, I’d want that confirmed by the teacher - there are occasions when they need to be reminded of what a student is capable of and the support in place for them (I say this as a teacher - we’re all fallible).

May I ask how you know he isn’t completing work in school - do you have access to all his books etc?

If he can do it properly and successfully at home, then he is capable of at least making an effort at school and not handing in a completely blank sheet.
Completing work at home vs a classroom when he has asd and learning difficulties is completely different. Not just a case of putting more effort in

We do mark like that in state schools @Flipflops85 - for reporting to parents etc. Any individual assessment or externally marked work like SATS is obviously different, but when I report on students I factor in everything they have achieved over the year. I am secondary, but don’t think primary is that different in doing this?
Pretty sure this is what the op means, but happy to be told otherwise...

If he doesnt complete work at school because there are no consequences to not doing it, I would want to work with the school on how to ensure they can build in consequences. It's not good enough to expect nothing from him, they are letting him down.

So any work completed under his EHCP conditions should be classed as work he has completed independently.
Anything he require more support with should be marked, but obviously will be weighted lower than the above, that is fair.
However, I’d want that confirmed by the teacher
Thank you. I shall ask her to clarify this.

If he doesnt complete work at school because there are no consequences to not doing it, I would want to work with the school on how to ensure they can build in consequences. It's not good enough to expect nothing from him, they are letting him down.
The only consequence they have come up with is to send it home. They asked me how I get him to do it and I’m pretty certain it’s partly because he knows I expect him to do it. At school, they don’t expect him to do anything and are pleased when he does something. I’m a “this is your work, no screen time till it’s done. Nope, not discussing it.” kind of homeschooling mum 🤣

May I ask how you know he isn’t completing work in school - do you have access to all his books etc?
His books come home sporadically so parents can see what they’re doing.

I think at this point you need a meeting with the class teacher. You need to address a number of things;

• The marking and weighting of his work, also what these marks will be used for. Is it just internal school data etc. How and when will they be shared with your son (you don’t want to damage what sounds like already fragile self esteem) and also you.
• The amount of work he is expected to complete at school and classroom expectations full stop - what will be the consequences if he ‘chooses’ not to complete work, but equally (and I think more importantly) what strategies will they employ to encourage him to want to do the work?
• Working together so he knows school and his mum/dad are communicating so there’s no point not doing the work - schools respond well to supportive parents as a general rule

If you don’t get satisfactory answers or are still concerned then take it to the next level up - this doesn’t necessarily have to be the Head - they’re the person of last resort. A deputy or person in charge of curriculum would be better.

And in our case, the teachers don’t believe what DS can do alone. I would explain the task and let him get on with it. He works so much better at home than at school. Plus there was no screen time until all school work was done. No walking out the classroom after handing in an empty sheet!

We've had similar issues issues this including a teacher sending DS a message to say that a piece of work was too good to possibly be his own work and that he needs to do the tasks himself. For the piece of work in question he had spent around two hours on it including watching some related YouTube videos that went into more depth than the lesson plan, he also took the time to plan his answer before starting, and then read it afterwards and made amendments before submitting it. We let him type it too rather than writing it by hand.

At school DS has umpteen distractions, a limited time frame in which to work (50 minute lessons) and which includes arrival/settle/down/explanation/pack away time, sensory input (or lack of depending on environment), pressure to conform and follow the pack, the mental load of remembering his various bits of kit, a lack of speed (it can take him an entire lesson to produce a single paragraph), and so on.

At home he has an environment set up specifically for him, his siblings work in another room, he can spend as much time as he likes on a task, he has no need to conform, no kit to remember, he can take a break when he wants, when his brain takes him off on a tangent relevant to the task he can follow it, and so on.

He fusses and moans about starting the work because he hates school crossing over into home and visa versa but, once he does sit down and get started, we get much better results from him at home than they do at school.

Does he have an EHCP? If not then it would be worth applying to your Local Authority for a Need Assessment. You don't need to prove what his needs are, just that a need for support may exist and its then up to the LA to assess what those needs are and what support is required for them. IPSEA has a good guide including template letters.

@The6thQueen

No we don’t do this in primary. All work at the school I work at is marked formatively and informs assessments at the end of each term.

We’d never (at my school) give it a ‘mark’ etc to go towards a total mark, to determine a grade. It just doesn’t work like that.

Our summative assessments are termly, and take into account work in books, and test scores on papers done in test conditions. However, when assessing age related expectations everything would be taken into account. It’s about informing teaching, learning and next steps - not about providing a child with a piece of paper with eg A, B, C

Children at primary are assessed as below or at age related expectations, in addition to, if they are working at greater depth in any areas.

@SchoolMarks

Yr 5 state.

How is he 11 if he’s in Y5? Are you not in England?

For various reasons, he repeated a year.

Yes, his classroom is loud, there are 27 other kids etc etc. Basically exactly what Foxy said.